Mapping services have become an integral part of web users' online experience. The use of mapping services is on the rise. As more users turn to online mapping services for information, the lines between location searching and information searching may blur. Instead of searching the global internet for information, a user may search for information specific to a geographic region they define. Furthermore, advertisers may have the ability to target the user with ads specific to the user defined geographic region.
Online mapping services may provide a venue for web providers and advertisers to efficiently target users. The efficiency of the user's search and of the advertiser's targeted advertising may be inherently tied to the user's ability to define a geographic region to search. Therefore there may be value in giving the user the ability to precisely define a specific geographic search region.
Currently the YAHOO! LOCAL MAPS service may allow the user to search near an address or within an entire viewable area, giving the user little control over the region they are searching. The breadth of the geographic search is left completely to the discretion of the YAHOO! LOCAL MAPS service, which may result in useless search results and irrelevant advertisements. For example, a user may wish to search an on-line map for coffee shops near the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. To do so the user may have to know the address of a location near the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge and then search for coffee shops near the address. The YAHOO! LOCAL MAPS service may return coffee shops within a certain distance north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge. The user may have no interest in the coffee shops south of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the user's inability to define a specific search region may leave them at the mercy of the YAHOO! LOCAL MAPS service's discretion. Furthermore, the YAHOO! LOCAL MAPS service may have complete control over the breadth of the geographic search. The user may only be interested in coffee shops within a certain distance north of the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. With the YAHOO! LOCAL MAPS service, a user may be presented with useless information and irrelevant advertisements while useful information and relevant advertisements may fail to be displayed.